"My name is Fate Moren, The twenty-first god. That is the number I was told by Diogen, yes. But I have no understanding of what it means. I am...new to this world."
I explained myself to the seated woman, and she laughed.
"Well, of course, I know that. I noticed your presence as soon as you entered our world."
That made me think of my entering the world, and it brought up many questions.
The biggest being, who brought me here and why? I wanted to ask the woman, but I thought I should at least get to know her first.
"What is your name?" I asked as I inspected my surroundings. I felt no other presences close by besides hers, and the forest seemed vast.
I spotted other tents scattered among the trees, though none were as large as hers.
If there are people in those tents, yet I can't feel their presences, does that mean there are normal humans in this world as well?
"My name is Lasandra, the eighteenth god."
I wondered what the numbers meant. If I was the twenty-first, I assumed it went in order of who entered the world first. But that only opened up more questions. Such as why this order was chosen, and what the differences were between those who arrived earlier, like Zir, who was fourth, and me, who was twenty-first.
"You must have a lot of questions," Lasandra said. "And though I cannot promise that I will be able to answer all of them, I will at least try my best to fill you in on what I can."
She rose to her feet and picked her large white sword out of the snow, making her way towards the tent entrance. I followed, and we both headed inside.
It was a modest sleeping area, as most tents were, and it had everything that would be needed in a small accommodation, except for a bed.
She sat in a chair at a desk and gestured for me to sit opposite her, which I did. I noticed that my smart attire felt out of place in such an area, though I didn't feel the cold, nor did my movement feel restricted. The clothes were incredibly well-made.
Fit for a god, perhaps.
"So, the first questions you probably have are why we have been brought to this world and by whom. And I hate to burst your bubble, but this is unknown to us as well. Even to those who have been here for over a year. However, this does not mean there are not speculations and hypotheses made among the gods. I shall give you the one most commonly believed, as well as some knowledge about our world."
I sat listening, grateful that Diogen's friend had truly turned out to be a friend. I made sure to check for presences around me, paranoid that, like before, other gods would hunt me down.
"Firstly, we are in the world of Arnos. A place much like Earth, and seemingly in the industrial age. There are countries, cities, towns, governments, a population, world history, anything you can think of that might have been on earth. But we deities only arrived within the last year, or at least in physical form."
The concept still felt unbelievable to me. I thought of my friends and family back home and wondered whether life still went on as normal for them.
"The population believed in us before we arrived, however, we had yet to manifest physically. It is only now that they believe the gods are slowly taking on humanoid form and entering the world. There are said to be a hundred gods, all assigned numbers, though only twenty one have physically manifested, you being the last.
Different members of the population worship these different gods, so naturally, when we arrive, we are automatically worshipped by a group of people. The twenty-first god, in Arnos theology, is a deity that is inevitably linked to you now, earning you worshipers around the world. However, we gods have no idea where this has all come from and why. All that is certain is that we are in constant war amongst ourselves."
The idea most unbelievable to me was having worshipers. I had done nothing worthy of being worshiped, so it felt wrong.
Perhaps I have no worshipers. Maybe the twenty-first god was known to be an evil deity.
I said this to myself, but deep down, it was not what I hoped for. I did not wish to be the only god not being worshiped.
"As I said before, there are many theories that we gods hold about our being here, however, the one most believed is simple. We are all in a battle to become the one true God of Arnos."
She let the words hang in the air and gave me time to think about it. Based on the circumstances, it seemed like it would make sense.
Perhaps we were all brought here from Earth to see who could be the greatest god, earning the right to rule a world in entirety.
It made sense as to why we felt it necessary to fight each other. Still, I had my problems with the theory.
"Regardless, it does not matter. Knowing the reasoning will not change the circumstances. The fact is that we gods engage in politics and war with each other, and if you fall behind, you will die. Leaving your worshipers without a god to follow."
I wondered where these civilizations were and how the different gods would connect with their worshipers, or how they would even find out who worshiped them in the first place. There were too many questions I had, and not enough time to get answers.
"Then it seems like my current goal is obvious. Become strong enough to at least defend myself from the other gods?" I said, and Lasandra nodded her head.
"Yes, that's right. However, this battle among the gods is not simple. You will need to learn about the alliances and the power rankings, as well as the domain locations and sizes."
She flashed a smile at me as I began to feel overwhelmed.
"In other words, I have a lot to learn, alongside my path toward gaining strength."
Lasandra nodded again.